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veronika-tserber · 2 years ago

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3rd House Ruler Through the Houses

The 3rd House in the Birth Chart Tells Us About:

How important communication is to us

How we express ourselves through spoken/written word

Our learning style and high-school education

Our relationship with siblings & the immediate environment

Our driving skills, as well as why we take short trips

We analyze the sign, the ruling planet of the sign, the degree, and any planets in the house (and their aspects). For this post, I am only asking you to look at the sign on the cusp and where its ruling planet is placed. This area of life is where your communicative abilities can shine the most.

E.g., if you have an Aries 3rd house, look at the house where Mars (also check out the modern ruler, Pluto) is placed, and read the explanation below.)

Some signs have TWO rulers, so read about both:

♈ Aries: Mars & Pluto

♏ Scorpio: Pluto & Mars

♐ Sagittarius: Jupiter & Neptune

♒ Aquarius: Uranus & Saturn

♓ Pisces: Neptune & Jupiter

3H Ruler in the 1H Your communication is closely tied to your self-image and self-expression. Others notice your manner of speech right away, and this could mean different things depending on the ruling planet. You express yourself best when you are able to freely speak up, and share your humor and opinions. You might learn best when you are physically involved in your learning. You can have a great sense of orientation and driving skills. Close relationships with siblings. Great communication is vital to you and your self-confidence. You could be a great writer/journalist/comedian or be involved in business and marketing. Short trips by yourself or for personal reasons.

3H Ruler in the 2H You probably like to think and talk about practical topics such as money, work, health, etc. You could also be skilled at crafting things and working with your hands. Similarly to the 1H people, you can have a "hands-on" approach to learning, and probably like to put any theory to the test. "Does it ACTUALLY work?" You might like to invest money into technology, education, cars/vehicles, and books. You could be interested in financial education, economics, real estate, or the arts. The financial state of your family affected your education and early environment. Your siblings ask you for financial support. Short trips for practical reasons.

3H Ruler in the 3H Communication and mental health are extremely important to you in this lifetime. Your immediate environment, education, and relationship with siblings play an important role in your life. You can be great at expressing yourself in verbal or written form and have the ability to sell goods, advertise, and be driven to learn things. You could be highly involved in your day-to-day life and love to find new and better ways to deal with everyday reality. You can be naturally skilled at solving everyday problems and fixing things. You could be quite fond of social media or the news - you like to stay in touch with everything that's going on in the world right now. Short trips with your siblings or acquaintances/schoolmates.

3H Ruler in the 4H You communicate best when you feel emotionally safe. You might be shy around strangers or people you don't "vibe" with. You could be interested in psychology and the themes of deconditioning, trauma, inner child healing, and family. You could've been homeschooled or you like the idea of homeschooling your children one day. A sibling of yours might've played the role of a mother/nurturer to you or vice-versa. You think deeply and love to see people open up to you and reveal their emotions and vulnerabilities. You could be interested in real estate, creative writing, and working from home. Your upbringing affects your communication and thinking patterns. You learn best in a safe environment that feels cozy and protective. You also might be a visual learner with strong emotional memory. You might be prone to thinking about the past a lot. You can be a skilled cook or good at fixing things around the house when they break. Short trips with the whole family.

3H Ruler in the 5H Your style of communication might be emotionally expressive, theatrical, and lively. You might love to draw people's attention by voicing your opinions or using your communicative abilities to entertain. You could be naturally skilled in the arts or want to go through formal art education. You might also have siblings that are artists. You love to talk about fun stuff, discuss art, movies, and flirt. You learn best when you are having fun! Communication with your own children is important to you, as well. You could have a "gambler" mindset or might like to take risks. You might like to buy or sell beauty/luxury items. Short trips for the purpose of having fun and enjoyment.

3H Ruler in the 6H This is double Mercury energy, so the importance of communication and service is amplified in your life. You can use your intellect and communicative abilities in your work or as a way to serve others in a practical way. In your education, you are punctual, responsible, and efficient. You love to learn! Especially about things that improve your day-to-day reality such as how to fix things around the house, how to improve your health, be better at your job, etc. You are probably a cautious driver, as well, and you can take short trips for work or for the sake of fulfilling other responsibilities. You could be interested in medical education/naturopathy but it really depends on the planet.

3H Ruler in the 7H Communication is crucial for you in your close personal relationships. If the planetary ruler isn't afflicted, you likely express yourself freely in front of others, and can easily forge new connections and partnerships. You can be a huge flirt! If the ruler is afflicted, you can struggle with self-expression. Nonetheless, people pay a lot of attention to how you think and communicate. You could potentially meet your future marriage partner during a short trip or thanks to your siblings/neighbors. You could also meet them while you are out riding your bicycle around the neighborhood, or buying coffee from your local coffee shop. Potential "high school sweethearts" placement, as well. You could have an education or a strong interest in relationship dynamics, and depending on the planet, that could be the placement of a counselor or a lawyer. Short trips with your partners, people close to your heart, or for business.

3H Ruler in the 8H In your communication, you like to go DEEP. You aren't satisfied with superficial information and you likely avoid social media, gossip, and small talk. You can keep a secret. You could potentially be challenged in your communication, and appear asocial or closed-off. It all depends on the ruling planet and its aspects. Nonetheless, you have an interest in the occult, psychology, sex, death, and other "taboo" topics. You could also come off as critical and sharp with your words. You could study and be interested in financial topics, and investments, or run advertising for a funeral agency. (I'm only halfway joking lol, and this is my placement, too 🤣) If the ruling planet is afflicted, you can be prone to accidents with vehicles or in your close environment. There could be issues in early education or perhaps strong bonds with some of the people you went to high school with. Possibly love-hate relationships with siblings, too. You like to take short trips with your intimate partners or by yourself.

3H Ruler in the 9H Your long-term goals and philosophy in life can be formed through your early education and experience of the early close environment. In your communication, you could be quite philosophical and might love to think about existential questions and the "big perspective" in life. You communicate and express yourself best in an academic environment of like-minded people/colleagues or with your professors. Alternatively, you could have issues there, depending on the ruling planet. You could be interested in foreign cultures, be multi-lingual, or skilled in literature or history. You could be the local tour guide for foreigners. You could pursue higher education in journalism, science, and writing, or decide to become a teacher, yourself. A lot of it depends on the ruling planet. Short trips for educational purposes and for the sake of adventure.

3H Ruler in the 10H Your communication abilities play a role in your career. Your education is the foundation of your profession and social status. Learning more languages, improving your practical skillset, communication, staying informed, and using social media constructively can help you advance career-wise. You could work in the field of trading, marketing, writing, teaching, and other Mercurial fields. It largely depends on the ruling planet. You could benefit (or suffer) from your ability to relate to authority figures and those "above you" on the social ladder. You probably like to feel in charge of your learning and education, but also love structure and measuring your achievements. You could have been ambitious and competitive at school. Taking short business trips.

3H Ruler in the 11H You communicate with pleasure among friends and like-minded individuals. This includes internet friends and communities. You love sharing your thoughts, visions, and interests with others, and engaging in inspiring conversations. You probably enjoy discussing social issues and topics and talking about your dreams and aspirations. You could also be prone to changing your interests a lot, and you could join many groups and communities over the years - especially in high school. You love to learn more about progressive ideas, technology, astrology, astronomy, science, etc. You might have a friendly relationship with your siblings. Regarding your learning style, you could be more fond of learning through the internet or working in a collaborative environment than sitting at a desk and having to "memorize" stuff. You could take short trips with friends.

3H Ruler in the 12H You could be really private with your thoughts. You could speak in a compassionate and gentle way that draws people in. Alternatively, you could be closed off and avoid communication or have some sort of a speech impediment/disability. You could be interested in learning more about spirituality, healing, art, mental health, etc. You could find that you tend to daydream a lot and your imagination is really vivid. It could be the placement for a painter, dancer, or creative writer, but it depends on other factors. Your education can involve the things above, plus psychology, energy healing, or the more traditional medical field. You could struggle in a traditional school environment. Your learning style is highly intuitive and may involve storytelling, metaphors, and visualization. You could definitely study better in solitude. Strong emotional memory. Great listener. You can take short trips to be by yourself and jam along to your favorite music.

The Ask Box is open for specific questions, folks! 😊

- Foxbörn

ᴍᴀꜱᴛᴇʀʟɪꜱᴛ 1

ᴄʜᴀʀᴛ ʀᴇᴀᴅɪɴɢꜱ

ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʙᴜʏ ᴍᴇ ᴀ ᴄᴏꜰꜰᴇᴇ?

#astro notes #3rd house #astro observations #astrology houses #natal chart houses #astrology #zodiac #astro community #zodiac signs #birth chart #natal chart #astroworld #horoscope

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robertreich · 1 year ago

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Socialism Fear-mongering is Bananas

Don't get scared. I'm going to talk about something that’s caused a lot of fear mongering.

You see, advanced countries, like the United States, pool resources for the common good. How? Well, governments enact taxes and then spend that money on things that benefit everyone. Think of national defense, schools, highways, healthcare, unemployment insurance — basically government spending that protects the well-being of the people.

But since some folk, like your conservative Uncle Bob, think ANY pooling of resources for the common good is…socialism.

And since socialism is apparently so terrifying…

I'm going to use a different word to describe this taxing of individuals for the common good. Let’s use.. I don't know.. How about…Banana! That's not scary, right?

Great. So, there are essentially three purposes for which governments banana.

First, social insurance against the possibilities of misfortune and neediness, such as unemployment, poor health, disability, and so on.

Second, public goods that we all benefit from, such as parks, highways, public health, and national defense.

Third, public investment in our future, such as basic research, education, and efforts to address pollution and the climate crisis.

Whether we’re talking about Sweden, Spain, or Slovenia or the United States — all countries in capitalist economies banana to benefit the common good.

And bananing is how societies grow their economies, become more prosperous, and ensure a better life for their people.

It’s also how countries aid people in hard times — or when emergencies arise, like a global pandemic.

To simply call any government banana’ing “socialism...” Oops, sorry I used the word.…Well it distorts our ability to think through how we banana and what we banana on.

And, it ignores the fact that the United States bananas LESS than most developed nations.

We’re among the worst when it comes to bananaing to reduce poverty, especially child poverty.

And pandemic aside, we banana less on unemployment insurance than nearly every other country.

Of course these countries generally have higher taxes than the United States to support all their bananing.

But they get more in return — better jobless benefits, better health care outcomes, debt-free education, more support for child care and elder care, and more generous retirement benefits.

And we could banana a lot more without having to raise taxes on middle or low-income Americans if the rich paid their fair share. Unfortunately, the tax code in the U.S. has been rigged so that the rich and powerful often skirt what they owe and get away with lower tax rates than regular people.

And the rich have done such a good job convincing people that any increase in banana’ing would be… you know, that S word ... that we just accept things as they are.

The only banana’ing they don’t seem to mind is on the military, where we banana more than the countries with the next 10 biggest militaries combined. That’s bananas!

All of this is a major reason why America has such staggering levels of inequality and poverty.

Whether bananing is “socialism” or not is a useless argument. Every country bananas. Capitalism requires banana’ing to ensure a degree of fairness and stability.

So the next time your Uncle Bob decries any pooling of private resources for the common good — or bananaing — as “socialism”... share this video with him.

And give him a banana.

#youtube #video #videos #socialism #economics #capitalism #politics

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sauntervaguelydown · 7 months ago

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TWO YEARS AGO, by a series of strange coincidences, I found myself attending a garden party at Westminster Abbey. I was a bit uncomfortable. It’s not that other guests weren’t pleasant and amicable, and Father Graeme, who had organized the party, was nothing if not a gracious and charming host. But I felt more than a little out of place. At one point, Father Graeme intervened, saying that there was someone by a nearby fountain whom I would certainly want to meet. She turned out to be a trim, well-appointed young woman who, he explained, was an attorney—“but more of the activist kind. She works for a foundation that provides legal support for anti-poverty groups in London. You’ll probably have a lot to talk about.”

We chatted. She told me about her job. I told her I had been involved for many years with the global justice movement—“anti-globalization movement,” as it was usually called in the media. She was curious: she’d of course read a lot about Seattle, Genoa, the tear gas and street battles, but … well, had we really accomplished anything by all of that?

“Actually,” I said, “I think it’s kind of amazing how much we did manage to accomplish in those first couple of years.”

“For example?”

“Well, for example, we managed to almost completely destroy the IMF.”

As it happened, she didn’t actually know what the IMF was, so I offered that the International Monetary Fund basically acted as the world’s debt enforcers—“You might say, the high-finance equivalent of the guys who come to break your legs.” I launched into historical background, explaining how, during the ’70s oil crisis, OPEC countries ended up pouring so much of their newfound riches into Western banks that the banks couldn’t figure out where to invest the money; how Citibank and Chase therefore began sending agents around the world trying to convince Third World dictators and politicians to take out loans (at the time, this was called “go-go banking”); how they started out at extremely low rates of interest that almost immediately skyrocketed to 20 percent or so due to tight U.S. money policies in the early ’80s; how, during the ’80s and ’90s, this led to the Third World debt crisis; how the IMF then stepped in to insist that, in order to obtain refinancing, poor countries would be obliged to abandon price supports on basic foodstuffs, or even policies of keeping strategic food reserves, and abandon free health care and free education; how all of this had led to the collapse of all the most basic supports for some of the poorest and most vulnerable people on earth.

I spoke of poverty, of the looting of public resources, the collapse of societies, endemic violence, malnutrition, hopelessness, and broken lives.

“But what was your position?” the lawyer asked.

“About the IMF? We wanted to abolish it.”

“No, I mean, about the Third World debt.”

“Oh, we wanted to abolish that too. The immediate demand was to stop the IMF from imposing structural adjustment policies, which were doing all the direct damage, but we managed to accomplish that surprisingly quickly. The more long-term aim was debt amnesty. Something along the lines of the biblical Jubilee. As far as we were concerned,” I told her, “thirty years of money flowing from the poorest countries to the richest was quite enough.”

“But,” she objected, as if this were self-evident, “they’d borrowed the money! Surely one has to pay one’s debts.”

It was at this point that I realized this was going to be a very different sort of conversation than I had originally anticipated. Where to start? I could have begun by explaining how these loans had originally been taken out by unelected dictators who placed most of it directly in their Swiss bank accounts, and ask her to contemplate the justice of insisting that the lenders be repaid, not by the dictator, or even by his cronies, but by literally taking food from the mouths of hungry children. Or to think about how many of these poor countries had actually already paid back what they’d borrowed three or four times now, but that through the miracle of compound interest, it still hadn’t made a significant dent in the principal. […]

But there was a more basic problem: the very assumption that debts have to be repaid. Actually, the remarkable thing about the statement “one has to pay one’s debts” is that even according to standard economic theory, it isn’t true. A lender is supposed to accept a certain degree of risk. If all loans, no matter how idiotic, were still retrievable—if there were no bankruptcy laws, for instance—the results would be disastrous. What reason would lenders have not to make a stupid loan?

[…] For several days afterward, that phrase kept resonating in my head. “Surely one has to pay one’s debts.” The reason it’s so powerful is that it’s not actually an economic statement: it’s a moral statement. After all, isn’t paying one’s debts what morality is supposed to be all about? Giving people what is due them. Accepting one’s responsibilities. Fulfilling one’s obligations to others, just as one would expect them to fulfill their obligations to you. What could be a more obvious example of shirking one’s responsibilities than reneging on a promise, or refusing to pay a debt?

It was that very apparent self-evidence, I realized, that made the statement so insidious. This was the kind of line that could make terrible things appear utterly bland and unremarkable. This may sound strong, but it’s hard not to feel strongly about such matters once you’ve witnessed the effects. I had. For almost two years, I had lived in the highlands of Madagascar. Shortly before I arrived, there had been an outbreak of malaria. It was a particularly virulent outbreak because malaria had been wiped out in highland Madagascar many years before, so that, after a couple of generations, most people had lost their immunity. The problem was, it took money to maintain the mosquito eradication program, since there had to be periodic tests to make sure mosquitoes weren’t starting to breed again and spraying campaigns if it was discovered that they were. Not a lot of money. But owing to IMF-imposed austerity programs, the government had to cut the monitoring program. Ten thousand people died. I met young mothers grieving for lost children. One might think it would be hard to make a case that the loss of ten thousand human lives is really justified in order to ensure that Citibank wouldn’t have to cut its losses on one irresponsible loan that wasn’t particularly important to its balance sheet anyway. But here was a perfectly decent woman—one who worked for a charitable organization, no less—who took it as self-evident that it was. After all, they owed the money, and surely one has to pay one’s debts.

Debt, the First 5000 Years

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lesbiansandgayssupporttheminers · 2 years ago

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Why increasing public sector wages won’t cause inflation.

One of the current Tory arguments about wages is that if they increase public sector wages, inflation will go up. Even by their own logic, this is clear nonsense, and there’s a reasonably strong argument that increasing public sector wages could actually stimulate the economy too.

So, where does this idea come from? Well, it comes from business, where the idea is that if you increase wages, some or all of that price rise gets passed on to the consumer, and prices go up. Of course, even this is false, because in many cases the consumer will say “fuck that” and not buy the product, or choose a cheaper alternative. Thus, the company must instead reduce profits to retain consumers (and let’s not be fooled, a lot of companies are still making huge, untaxed profits right now). Or they cut hours and provide a less good service.

But this doesn’t apply in the public sector. Increasing wages of people in education, or in healthcare or in the civil service etc has no direct impact on the price of anything, because the public don’t directly buy our services.

However, it may actually stimulate the economy more widely.

In general, when you give rich people more money, they save it, or possibly “invest it”- meaning it basically goes out of circulation and doesn’t further benefit anyone.

If you give people right at the bottom more money, then they almost inevitably spend it right away, usually on essentials- which benefits the economy because more money is being spent, so companies have more money to pay wages, etc etc. But this doesn’t work soooo well, because people always need essentials, and will find some way of getting them, generally, if they possibly can. Of course, we want a world where everyone has access to these essentials easily, but we’re trying to think like an economist right now.

Most public sector workers are somewhere between these two extremes although some are definitely in the second category.

Right now, however a lot of people like teachers, nurses, junior doctors, junior civil servants etc etc are “feeling the squeeze”- caught between high housing prices, rising bills and stagnating wages, there’s less and less money to spend on “luxuries”. People might cut back on eating out, on take aways, on buying new clothes, on buying presents, on “treats”, on non-essential travel, on buying things like books and nice stationery, on make up and toiletries, on haircuts and getting their nails done- the list goes on.

These things aren’t essential to survival, you can do without them. So if you can’t afford to buy them, you don’t. But of course, if a lot of people stop buying these things at once, it hurts the economy. Companies that make or sell these things see profits go down, perhaps reduce hours or lay off staff, which in turn gives them less money to spend, and it all becomes a vicious cycle which shrinks your economy- i.e. the worst possible thing if you’re a Tory, supposedly.

(Investing in education and health also has long term pay off, but anyway).

If the people at the bottom and the people a bit above the bottom had a bit more spare cash, there would be more spending, and more businesses would see a proportion of that spending. And so they can offer staff more hours, pay higher wages, employ more staff. There’s more money going around and it’s a virtuous circle. The economy grows.

Would some companies then put their prices up? Maybe. Companies will often raise prices whenever they can. But the pressure to increase prices tends to come from increased costs, not increased custom. And it would matter less because everyone or nearly everyone would be earning more.

Cutting and cutting just leaves everyone poorer. We know this.

So why do the Tories keep going on TV and spouting bollocks? It might be because they don’t actually understand the economics of the situation (scarily likely) but it’s also likely to be ideological. They’d rather “win” the fight with the unions than do something that could actually help everyone.

#uk politics #cost of living crisis #economics #tories #public sector pay #wage stagnation #squeezed middle #capitalism #like #this might be the most capitalist thing I have ever written #but #I feel we have to counter the narrative at every point

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covid-safer-hotties · 2 days ago

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Also preserved in our archive

By Samantha Fields

When Charlie McCone got COVID in March 2020 in San Francisco, he was 30, otherwise healthy and fit, not considered high-risk. His doctors told him he’d get better in a couple of weeks. He didn’t.

Eventually, weeks into being sick and with no real answers from his doctors, he turned to that place many of us turn to for medical information: the internet.

“I found a Facebook group with thousands of other people asking what’s going on, and I was like, ‘Oh my God,’” he said, “‘This is happening to so many other people.’”

It was already becoming clear then, in spring of 2020, that COVID could cause serious, lasting issues, including debilitating fatigue and brain fog, among many other symptoms. Because there was so much attention on COVID at the time, McCone said, “there was a lot of hope about the response to long COVID, I think, the first two years.”

Then in late 2020, Congress allocated over $1 billion to the National Institutes of Health for long COVID research. “There was this feeling that we’re going to have answers here in a few years,” he said.

But now it is a few years later, and that feeling has changed.

McCone is still sick. He’s not working anymore and can’t walk much more than a block. Roughly 20 million people in the U.S. are now estimated to have long COVID, maybe more. And that initial $1.15 billion NIH got for the RECOVER program — which stands for Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery — has yielded few answers and zero approved treatments so far.

“There’s been a lot of disappointment in terms of the program moving slowly and also focusing a lot on the kind of observational side of things,” said Betsy Ladyzhets, co-founder and managing editor of the Sick Times, a nonprofit news site focused on long COVID.

Most of the research money has gone into trying to learn more about what long COVID is — into clinical research, data collection and analysis and studies of electronic health records.

“Rather than what many people in the patient community and also the research community really want, which is focus on treatments, clinical trials,” Ladyzhets said.

There’s good reason for the focus on observational research, according to Dr. Serena Spudich, a neurologist and researcher at Yale who’s working with the RECOVER program.

“There has to be a very, very strong urgency for finding treatments,” she said. “And at the same time, we will only find treatments if we understand the condition properly.”

And understand what’s causing the many different kinds of symptoms people are having.

“Because long COVID is not one condition, it’s a very heterogeneous condition,” Spudich said. “And it’s very, very possible, I would even say likely, that different forms of long COVID — for example, the more neurologic forms versus something like severe shortness of breath or problems with the heart rate — those may actually be due to different types of biologic mechanisms that need different treatments.”

Outside researchers agree that these kinds of observational studies and data collection are critical, but some feel the NIH didn’t need to spend nearly $1 billion on them.

Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, director of the Clinical Epidemiology Center and chief of the Research and Education Service at the VA St. Louis Health Care System, said his team and others did similar research earlier in the pandemic, “for peanuts, a few hundred thousand dollars that generated evidence much more robustly, faster, years ahead of RECOVER, for a small, small, small, small fraction of the funds.”

At this point, more than four years in, “NIH should be laser-focused, laser-focused on finding treatment for long COVID,” he said.

That will be a bigger focus going forward. NIH got another $515 million this year for RECOVER and plans to put much of it toward clinical trials.

This fall, it held a kickoff meeting for the next phase of the RECOVER program, called RECOVER-TLC, which stands for Treating Long COVID. Now, Joseph Breen at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at NIH said it’s in the process of soliciting ideas for drugs and other treatments to trial.

“We have every intention of getting started as soon as possible,” he said. “In reality, we’re probably into next year.”

David Putrino, director of rehabilitation innovation for the Mount Sinai Health System in New York, has been doing long COVID research since 2020. He said how the clinical trials are designed will be critical.

“What we need to be doing is rapidly testing as many drug targets as possible, rather than taking big swings,” he said. Meaning that instead of putting all the funding into a few big, expensive trials of a couple of drugs, RECOVER could do a bunch of smaller trials.

“For a couple million dollars apiece, they could be testing 100 drugs. And they could be logging the responses of those 100 drugs, and they could be moving into more sophisticated clinical trial strategies,” Putrino said. “That is where I think we should be applying the money.”

Many long COVID patients and advocates are cautiously optimistic about this next phase of research. Charlie McCone, who has become something of an expert in his own illness and now volunteers with the Patient-Led Research Collaborative, was at the kickoff meeting and left feeling a little more hopeful.

“The NIH can do this right, they have to do this right,” he said. “And they need to do it fast, which we know is possible.”

But no matter what comes of this current slate of funding, he said more is going to be needed. “No disease is solved with a one-time investment. And so, just because this first billion dollars didn’t produce much does not mean the next billion and the next billion won’t.”

Some legislators are already pushing for additional funding. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont Independent, along with several Democratic senators, introduced the Long COVID Research Moonshot Act in the Senate, and a companion bill has been introduced in the House. The Moonshot Act would provide $1 billion a year for 10 years for long COVID research. It has yet to be brought to the floor for a vote.

#mask up #covid #pandemic #public health #wear a mask #covid 19 #wear a respirator #still coviding #coronavirus #sars cov 2 #long covid #UK

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n3xii · 1 year ago

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there is nothing esoteric about wealth

There is something profoundly cruel about telling people that the reason they're poor is because of their mindset- that the reason they can't afford basic needs like food, health insurance, transportation, mental health care, education, and etc is because they didnt think good enough.

not only because it's condescending, but because its nothing we haven't heard before: we have all heard that the reason poor people are poor is because it's a emanation of a personal failure. they didnt work hard enough, they didn't invest in the right stock, they didnt hold themselves accountable enough for their own spending habits. or better yet, the reason they are poor is because they lacked the intelligence, cleverness, and thirst for financial freedom that the wealthy has.

its always been especially menacing when they attach spiritual morality or exaltation- the reason you're poor is because you're faith is lacking, or you karmically earned your fate as a result of a past life, you didnt trust god enough.

whats new is that this this idea of poverty being a personal failure is being repackaged through the terminology of manifestation- you are poor because you manifested it. your mindset allows the reality of poverty to exist.

Yesterday I watched a video about how to obtain financial freedom at a young age. The woman in the video was herself, young, wealthy and free. she believes she achieved this freedom through and work and manifestation. (and totally not related at all, the video was sponsored by a very reliable and safe app that claims if you keep it running in the background for 24 hours a day you might make 30 dollars a month. that's totally not the impetus to making the video at all. )

her advice was the mundane, typical ''start an online business, do drop shipping, invest in real estate, become a landlord, stop saving money and invest it instead.'' but she centered the video around something interesting- she said: ''stop persisting in the poor girl mindset''- the reason we are poor is because we aren't affirming the right things, we're poor because we portion our paychecks each month to save money on the side, we're poor because lack the lucky girl mindset and therefore we have made ourselves unlucky.

how barbaric.

she then spoke a good lot of time discussing how doing our own work is a waste of time and money- instead, we could be paying employees to do the work for us while we sit back and relax as the passive income flows to our bank accounts. what she said was actually the lowkey version of ''your labor alone is not enough to produce sustainable income; you have to exploit the labor of a large group of people in order to achieve your desirable paycheck.''

The mass produced content of ''how to achieve financial freedom at so and so age'' is massively based on the metaphysical idea that you manifest your own reality, so- if you are poor then its because you believe you are. whats distinctly manipulative about this is that it shifts the blame from the systematic, hierarchal reason behind your poverty onto yourself. you are to blame- not the series of calculated, money-hungry decisions made by those who actually have power over you to keep themselves rich and to keep you poor. you are poor because your thoughts affirm you are, not because the people at the top have the ability to hoard their wealth and spend it stupid ventures that ultimately refund their own bank accounts. certainly not because capitalism is doing exactly what it was designed to do in the first place. no, thats not the convenient answer, thats not the repackged, pretty ''you have the power to change your reality in a broken system'' answer people want to hear. the truth is, the system isnt broken, its doing exatly what it was designed to do. you do have the power to change your reality, its just not the way they're willing to admit.

you want to be rich? you want to be in the top? thats determined by one factor and one factor alone: your willingness to exploit and fuck over large amounts of people.

thats it, thats all. there is no intellectual or metaphysical secert, there is nothing esoteric about wealth. the only quality the people have at the top that you do not possess is their ability to smile as they kill.

#i wrote this a few months ago and forgot about it #writing #capitalism #anti capitalism #manifestion #capitalist hell #late stage capitalism

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selkies-world · 8 months ago

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Sign the petition to demand the creation of a new international law requiring fast-fashion garments to come with a statement of the human cost and environmental harm caused by their creation.

We all know fast fashion is bad for the planet - slave labor, environmental waste, air and water pollution, and unsustainable practices are just a few of the ways they impact our planet, our health and our lives. To date, the fast fashion industry is the 2nd largest consumer of water and is single-handedly responsible for 10% of global carbon emissions (that's more than all international flights and maritime shipping across a year combined). Even the simple act of washing these clothes releases 500,000 tons of microfibers into the ocean each year - that's equal to 50,000 plastic bottles. Fast-fashion is the 3rd leading cause of the climate crises we face, yet is rarely addressed.

Knowing these stats is one thing, and understanding them is important. Being aware of them is somewhat informative. But as long as we keep turning a blind eye to the issue, the stats are only going to get worse, and nothing will change for the better. Ignoring the issue or brushing it under the rug won't help anything. So what if we could see the real-world damage done by each of the garments we buy?

In the same way that cigarette packets have shown the harm their products do to our bodies ("SMOKING KILLS", lung cancer visualizations, etc.), what if fast fashion manufacturers & retailers had to show the harm their products do to our planet?

[Image ID: A type-writer font has been used on a brown craft paper background. The text reads: "32 animals lost their habitat to the field where my crops were planted - 2 of those animals are already endangered species. 2,700 litres of water were used in my production. I was made in a sweatshop enslaving men and women aged 16 - 45, and children aged 6 - 14. I contain 0.22kg of carbon dioxide dye." End ID.]

This is a mock-up of a label / statement for a single T-shirt, with researched statistics and educated estimates for the information I couldn't find a calculated answer for.

Now imagine labels / statements like this for every single piece of clothing: how many toxic chemicals are in those new jeans? How many litres of water did that shirt take to make? How many animals were skinned to make those cute fur-trimmed boots? How many children made that jumper? How many people were forcibly removed from their homes, so production companies could plant crops to grow the materials used in clothes manufacturing? How many families were evicted for no reason other than corporate greed? How many trees were cut down? How many animals were displaced or killed?

Would you really want to buy those items of clothing if the answers to those questions were staring you in the face?

If this information was stated in clear, accessible ways on both the website and the ticket on the actual garment, this would dramatically reduce the number of people buying fast fashion items. It would also reduce the profits being made by fast fashion companies, and could lead to many of them being forced to choose between changing and becoming sustainable, eco-froendly and ethical brands, or shutting down due to being boycotted.

Who would really want to knowingly buy things that are made by slaves, or which cost a family their home, or which contributed to deforestation? Who would continue to buy fast fashion items knowing this is the damage caused by them, when sustainable alternatives are an option?

Whether it's second-hand fashion at affordable prices, or investing more money in sustainable products which were made with high ethical standards and which cost more money due to the fact their price accounts for the time it took a person to make that item... we can say for certain that sustainable shopping is going to become much more popular if people know how important that change is. Sustainable items last much longer than fast-fashion items, which by design are created to self-destruct, as they are made to be worn a few times and then discarded in order to be replaced by the next trend's items - and as trends speed up, these items become weaker and weaker. This then leads to people spending more money in order to keep up with the newest trends, and to keep replacing clothes they throw out after a few washes.

In contrast, buying sustainable items which are designed to last years means people won't have to spend money on new clothes every few weeks, which means they'll ultimately save money in the long term and actually be able to afford those pricier items which will last much, much longer.

Now, despite the amount of harm the fast-fashion industry causes to people and the environment, the last thing we should be doing is getting angry at those who continue to buy them. Being the target of anger doesn't make large populations change their behaviour - even a cursory look through history books will tell us that much. Neither does being the target of resentment or blame.

But guilt? Shame? Those are two of the most powerful emotions to magnify when you want change to happen in waves.

And frankly, if people feel ashamed of buying something, or if buying something makes them feel guilty... they're going to stop buying it.

Those aren't the only emotions that should be felt, though. Because only feeling guilt and shame leads to feeling hopeless, scared, anxious and depressed. And we don't want that. No matter how bad things get... we don't want that.

The only other emotions to provoke are hope and pride.

If there's no hope for the future, how can anyone be expected to imagine a better one?

You wouldn't think it, what with all the climate crises and disasters we experience around the world and the total lack of commitment made by billionaires, multimillion-dollar companies and corporations and politicians.

But it's true. Scientists in Scotland have discovered bacteria which eat plastic and speed up the decomposition of it. ‘Ecocide’ is now punishable by law. Some countries within the EU are already close to meeting their 2030 goals years ahead of schedule! Thanks to scientists and small, individual changes made on a massive scale by ordinary people who are making small adjustments to our everyday choices, we can and are healing most of the ozone layer before 2050. That is something we should all feel incredibly proud of.

So imagine how much we could speed that process up if more people made those changes. Imagine how much sooner we could heal our planet if billions of people made those changes, rather than millions. Imagine how much sooner we could be seeing the effects of a healthier planet if fast fashion companies were forced to choose between going green and transparent, or closing altogether due to a lack of interest from consumers. Imagine the changes we could create if corporations made massive changes in a short amount of time, in order to save their own profits.

Imagine more labels like this, sitting alongside each other on every single piece of fast fashion clothing. A statement like this beneath every item of clothing on fast fashion websites, which transparently states the harm done.

If every single fast-fashion company and store had to display this on their clothing, on their racks, on their websites, and if there were legal punishments for those who tried to evade or lie... fashion would turn a lot greener very quickly. We'd start seeing more and more labels with "I'm made from 6 plastic bottles! I used to be a newspaper! I had 0 pesticides used on me in my production! I only contain natural dye made from berries, beans and sustainably grown flowers. I was made from apple skins and corn! The people who made me get to go home to their families every night, have days off and the adults made £150.35 each in 1 week! The animal who made the wool for me is free-range and well-cared for! I came from a small family farm, and was created with a closed-loop water system!”

That'd be a much better civilisation to shop in, don't you agree?

That is hope for the future.

That is motivation, which can fuel ordinary people to do extraordinary things and create changes they thought were impossible.

If you want to be a part of creating this change, sign the Change.org petition which demands the the creation and implementation of an international law which will require all fast-fashion products to be displayed with a statement which states the harm done to people and the planet by that garment being made & shipped.

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v-era-18 · 1 year ago

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HoneyBee

Chapter Seven: Sleep Talk

“ Even the best of hero’s have nightmares. It's how they conquer them, that makes them worthy enough for the title,”- (G/D) (L/n)

youtube

Energon. Screams. Blasts. Falling!

The young brown skinned girl woke up with a start, tears flooded her honey eyes as she stared at the dark depths of her room. The twist and turns of the shadows didn't make things better as she could still hear and see the war terrorist from her nightmares; the red glowing optics to the angler metal of his faceplate. His whole design screamed ‘fear me’. Her grandfather went a little too into detail when telling her the story, he stopped shortly after she started to shy away underneath the covers. It was too real.

(Y/n) could almost vividly see the metal sword in her hands, swish and flick of her tail in her peripherals as the autobot leader gave orders to the autobots for their mission. It was everything she could imagine, fighting alongside hero’s for their planet. That was until everything they had accomplished was stripped from their arms within a few minutes. Scouts turned up missing, wreckers removing themselves from the fight as lost hope began to emerge, don't even get her started on the captains and sargents.

She wanted to be that hero that would earn the words ‘well done’ by a Prime. In the end, she was a fool. A child that didn't know any better.

She almost died, she could still feel her weightless body flowing through the air nearly hitting the metal ground below. It was horrible the sights she had seen; torn metal appendages, energon spilled-dried and fresh, to the lifeless cybertronian bodies laid in vast piles. These were the parts of war she had nightmares about-the cost of the auto bot cause, millions of lives and deaths thrown away for a planet that might not ever be the same way again.

She needed to leave the dark. She didn’t want to think of those red optics scratching down her small form.

(Y/n) got out from under the covers with space cadet number five-her teddy bear- and made the decision to seek out her grandparents in their room. It had been awhile since she’s done so, after all she was twelve now and needed to stop relying on her grandparents for these sort of things such as comfort. But the grave voice of that monster continued to echo in her head.

‘Run little knight! But your death awaits today!’

The master bedroom was at the end of the hall. It had a large bookshelf in the far corner along with a desk littered with papers that were no doubt the affairs of the (L/n) library. The walls were pure ivory. ‘We leave the walls white like a canvas ready to be painted.’ The bed was a carved one-antique- harboring the foreign language not made for the human youngest. She never could figure out what it said, Nana said she would be told when she was older.

The door to they’re bedroom was already open, on the other side she could hear their voices halting her movements. Her grandmother was upset, her voice rolling out in hisses she used in order not to wake her up when they were arguing. (GD/N) sat on the bed rubbing his head in frustration, his hair was long gone by now, only his beard and eyebrows left.

“I can’t believe you’re going through with this!” Nana said, she was pacing back and forth her clasped hands over her heart. One thing about her grandmother is that her emotions affect her heart severely due to her age: one day something was going to give her a heart attack out of pure fright, “there’s an opportunity for you to live longer and you won’t take it-“

“I’ll live for a few more years with the treatment, but love-I’ve already lived a life worth living,” his mind was made up, he wasn’t going to sit by and invest money in a treatment to give himself a few more years, “You could use that money to put (Y/n) through college-“

“What about her?! You care enough about her education but not enough about her heart when she hears about your health?!” She sobbed, “She’s already lost her parents! Not to mention Estel who she can’t even remember. She can’t afford to lose someone else!”

“(GM/N) I-“

A creak of the door halted the two’s conversation, immediately looking towards the opened door seeing a stray teddy bear in its place. (GD/N) could hear the creak of another closing door at the end of the hall, giving them the answer to his suspicions.

(Y/n) was never good at pretending to fall asleep, especially when she was in trouble, or her mind continued to be active with endless possibilities. So when her grandfather sat on the end of her bed she decided to give it up and peek under the covers slightly.

The older man before her doesn't seem upset in the slightest, only a sad look in his eyes and a patient smile upon his lips. She opened her mouth to apologize for eavesdropping only for him to cut her off, “I'm sorry to wake you up sweetheart. That wasn't something you needed to hear-especially on a school night.” He fondled her teddy bear in his hands a bit before passing it over.

She gave it a little hug in response, “You didn't wake me up pops, i-it was him,” saying his name almost felt like a sin. A ‘he who shall not be named’ vibe with how much evil radiated off of him.

(G/D) brought the girl into his arms and kissed her forehead softly, it felt almost bittersweet with how much she had heard. She wasn't oblivious to what was going on; the less frequent stories at night, how tired he had grown so much he would miss out on dinner sometimes, to the way he had to force a smile after each cough. She knew her grandfather wasn't well, but just for a moment she didn't want to discuss it, she wanted to live a bit oblivious a little bit longer.

Oblivious to the fact he one day wouldn't be here to tell her every story known to man. Her original storyteller.

“He will not harm you,” He whispered in her hair, “he is far enough from your reach.”

“Because he's eroding on some planet somewhere right pop pop?” (Y/n) smiled a bit expecting him to do the same only to receive a faltering smile instead. Her expression fell, and a sense of dread filled her stomach, “He is far away from earth right Pops? He is simply a legend…..fiction-,”

“I have told you many times (Y/n). Legends stem from some form of truth, whether it simply be stories altered over time or something the human mind simply can't comprehend.” (G/D) looked towards the bookshelves in her room, eyes landing on the leather books, “I at times couldn't comprehend, neither could my subconscious mind. But there at times would be a voice or two in my corner ready to prove and relay the message before it indeed became that in my mind-a story-fiction.”

The young girls lips wobbled, “So he's going to come kill us all one day, and there's nothing I can do about it,” fat tears fell down her round cheeks as she furiously wiped them away, “How can I be a hero when all I do is have nightmares about that-that-stupid and selfish warlord and hide underneath the covers at the mention of him?”

“You are already beginning to act like a hero,” (GD/N) chuckled. His amusement to her augment fueled her frustration. Out of all the books she’s read it was hard to believe that cybertronian hero’s got scared, or were haunted by their terror. Could they even dream? When they recharge do they imagine what peace seems like? The families they could have and more?

“No I'm not!” She argued, “A hero doesn't get scared! Optimus doesn't get scared! The book never once mentioned him getting scared or having nightmares!”

“Ah,” He laughed, “That is indeed true, the book never mentions the Prime getting scared, but that doesn't mean he doesn't get scared like the rest of us. On the contrary, I bet every time he went on that battlefield his spark was pounding to the point he could barely give orders to his comrades. Lives are in his servos each time he goes on the battlefield-and that is indeed scary…especially if his most trusted friend is now his enemy, because he lost his way.”

(G/D) grabbed the young girl's chin and held it high, “Even the best of hero’s have nightmares. It's how they conquer them, that makes them worthy enough for the title,”

If he was going to leave, he was going to make sure she achieved this dream at least. Afterall, if things were to go down the way their family all knew, she would be the main successor out of all of them. The main hero of planet earth.

~ ✯ ~

The group made haste through the facility guiding the large cybertronian towards the Cube. Every second counted in this situation, there was no time for mistakes. It could be felt through the air: the tight tension of who was to die today and who could be saved.

They made a mistake, and it was time to fix it.

When they reached the room the cube was being held it took (Y/n) a minute to steady her breathing. Her eyes had gazed at it not even forty minutes ago from a safe distance, now that she was up close all the stories and legends told didn’t do it justice. The large encrypted block raided power.

Life.

Destruction.

Sam dragged her out of her gaze by pulling on her sleeve guiding her to the side as large ped steps got closer. It was grounding, as if the bots' near presence was a shield from everything going on. They were his charge, no harm was going to befall them.

The scout looked up at the cube for a minute before reaching up and placing his hands against it. Whirrs of wonder echoed from the young bot, leaving her to question if he knew what to do in order for them to leave with it. It was huge! Too large to even drag it out of the building with five autobots to join in the haul. For a moment and just a moment, she did wonder if the pyramid were all cubes, the other half buried underneath the ground. It was ridiculous, colonizers couldn't break through cybertronian tech as well as they could rock.

“Does he know what he’s doing?” Mikeala whispered to (Y/n).

“Of course he does,” she replied without hesitation, “he’s smarter than he lets you know.”

Optics flickered to her for a moment sending chills down her spine. She hadn't realized he could hear them whispering, and hot shame boiled in her stomach as if she did something scandalous. She would have to at least write that down somewhere that autobout have advanced hearing.

Bumblebee focused back on the cube placing his digits back up on it before an electric shock of blue consumed the cube. A metallic whirring could be heard along with the familiar shifting of metal as the artifact started to fold in on itself seeming to get smaller. He moved his hands in focus, seeming to instruct the cube what and how he wanted things to be done.

The humans in the room could do nothing but watch in sheer amazement. After centuries and years of believing they knew everything only to find out they didn’t even have half of it was truly shocking.

“Oh, my god,” Mikeala said, “(Y/n) this is-“

“More than I’ve ever dreamed of,” (Y/n) smiled, her hands were shaking at her side, tears welling up from too many emotions taking over, “Pops….I wish you could see this.”

The cube finally shrunk down to the palm of the bot's hand, giving his digit a little shock as he examined it a little. He then turned to (Y/n), “Message from Starfleet, Captain. Let’s get to it.”

“He’s right.” Lennoxx stepped forward, “We stay here, we’re screwed with Megatron in the other hangar. Mission City is twenty two miles away. We’re gonna sneak that Cube out of here and we’re gonna hide it somewhere in the city.”

“Good! Right.” It seemed like a miracle that Simmons was agreeing with them. I guess the cube being handled by the robot was enough for them.

“But we cannot make a stand without the Air Force.”

“This place must have some kind of radio link?!” Questioned the Captain, “Shortwave, CB?”

“Yes. Right, yes!” Simmons said, “in the Aline Archive, there’s an old Army radio console.”

“Will it work?”

“Anything is possible!” the agent exclaimed, gesturing towards Bumblebee and where the cube once was mounted. “Did you see that?!”

“Sir, you got to figure out some way to get the word out to them.” The soldier said, he turned towards (y/n) her face apprehensive, “are there any problems with my plan? You know these guys better than we do.”

Everyone turned to the girl expectantly, and it left her stomach doing twists. For some odd reason she looked up at Bumblebee, maybe hoping for an answer of his own. The only thing she received was a soft whirr and a nod. It didn’t need words, she knew what he was trying to say.

“ U-uh, so there’s only two problems-,”

“ Two?” Epps asked, “to be honest I was expecting more.”

(Y/n) laughed lightly trying to shake her nerves, “ Yeah well we don’t really have time to go in with a full hardcore plan right now. If we’re going into this we must understand the risks. First ,” she turned to the Captain and Simmons , “Be prepared to barricade the room for the radio, if I know anything about autobots and deceptions is that they can easily tap into satellites-that especially counts towards radios and internet. A decepticon might be sent loose in the facility to try to stop you.”

“Jesus,” Sam whispers.

“Second, about the cube being hidden in the city, I don't agree with it but we don’t have other options at the moment.” The girl huffed, “while on the radio with the men send out an emergency alert to order civilians to exit the city. War with cybertronians is nothing compared to war between humans. Thousands of people will die in this city if we are not careful. Am I clear?”

Everyone nodded, “ Good. That uh-was my peace.”

Mikaela smirked, “there’s the girl I got the hots for in the back of the class.” The girl missed the way the black and yellow bot snapped his head in her direction before an optic roll seemed appropriate.

To be honest now wasn't the time for emotions to flow.

Sam refrained from making a face, “ Let’s move before Megatron decides to use our bodies for target practice.”

“ He actually has done that with a soldier that betrayed him before-”

“ (Y/n) not now! ”

“ Alright Sam, (Y/n) get in the car! ” Lennoxx ordered, “ Mr. Secretary! Get our birds in the air! When we get to the city, we’re gonna find a radio, and I’ll have Epps vector them in, okay? ”

“Affirmative!”

Sam ushered into the passenger side seat with (Y/n) in the driver. Mikeala took it upon herself to protect the cube in the back. Personally (Y/n) would’ve done the job herself but a soldier had already shoved her in the driver's seat before she could protest. Bumblebee drove the facility with the soldiers on the rims of his tires. The exit seemed so far with the short amount of time they were making it through.

“ WARNING! NBE ONE CRYO-CONTAINMENT FAILING. ”

(Y/n)’s heart stopped, “ What the fuck did that just say?! ”

“ Oh boy, ” Sam uttered, “ Better get ready to haul ass Bee! ”

“ Haul ass?! He better drive like he got some sense! Cause I’ll be damned if I die at the hands of that terrorist you hear me! ”

A rumble of the engine from Bumblebee could mean two things: a scoff or a boisterous laugh. Now wasn’t the time to figure out which was which.

“Set a perimeter around the yellow vehicle!” Lennox shouted.

For support (Y/n) gripped the steering wheel trying to focus on the autobot insignia on the horn rather than the loud screams bouncing off the concrete walls. They successfully excited the facility with support ,they still weren’t out of the woods yet. They needed to reach the city to hide the cube or possibly had it off to Optimus. And Mission City was a few miles from their grasp.

“The cubes okay?” Sam asked Mikeala

“Yeah, it’s fine,” She said, adjusting it in the seat.

“Put the seatbelt around it” (Y/n) said quickly, “the less it moves the better”

Even though it was minutes it felt like ages before they got far enough to feel safe for a moment. Even safe enough to quietly talk amongst themselves as teens if they would never do it again.

“And here I thought I was going to go shopping this weekend for graduation.” Mikeala sniffed, “I’m the first to graduate high school in my family. It’s a big achievement and I wanted to look good when showing my potential future kids.”

“I was going to write a Harry Potter quote on my cap with our grad year.” (Y/n) laughed lightly. It was true, originally it was going to be Star Wars, but she decided that the many hormonal boys in their grade would’ve bashed her. A girl loving something ‘sacred’ to them didn't seem on their wish list.

Sam chuckled lightly as well, “lemme guess, ‘RONALD WHEALSLY HOW DARE YOU STEAL THAT CAR!’” the scream almost seemed like perfection at the moment,

They bursted out in laughter. The only real time they’ve laughed without stress behind it. Bumblebee even let out a little rumble.

“No, it was ‘Whenever in doubt, go to the library’” The girl giggled.

Mikeala smiled, “ It suits you.” It did, the library was attached to her family in more ways than one. It was her livelihood, almost like Banes Motorcycle shop was to her. “But honestly now you need to change it to ‘I saved the world I deserve more than this piece of paper.’”

There was a moment of silence before it was abruptly cut through with a blade of a truck horn. Seeing the familiar vehicle made the girl smile in triumph, it seemed like things were turning around with the reunion.

“There’s Optimus,” Sam announced.

The teens watched the autobot leader along with his team screech their tiers against the ground in a sharp turn before following them quickly behind. (Y/n) knew deep down the autobots we’re glad to see Bumblebee alright once more. Their scout had survived, although young, Bumblebee is a lot tougher than one could describe. But she had a feeling they knew that already, they had watched him come or of hard situations before right?

It was another few miles before they heard it. Sirens. At first (Y/n) had thought their plan of getting in touch with the government worked pretty quickly, that was until she spotted the military truck and behind it. It was a domino effect; two of the drivers surrounding them were taken out swiftly with the truck crashing and flipping them over.

The girl could only sit in the seat and stare her eyes widening as she stared at the side mirror. Abruptly she was yanked back further in her seat by the seat belt and the windows were rolled up completely.

“Are they-are they-“ she couldn’t finish.

“No no no no no no,” Sam said, watching the rearview.

“What?” Mikeala asked.

“It’s the same cop!” Sam hissed, “the one that attacked me and (Y/n) before. Block ‘em, block em, block em, block em!”

The military truck transformed first on the road, the ground shaking abruptly behind them as a fierce roar was let out from the decepticon. The enemy's enthusiasm was short lived as the autobot leader followed suit, making it his mission to be the defense as they continued forward. (Y/n) yanked a bit on the seat showing the scout she wished to see the action a bit more.

A Prime in action wasn’t something you see everyday.

A look in the side mirror led her heart to accelerate. The decepticon had skated purposefully into a civilian bus on the highway, the flames rode on the road watching fellow cars skid to a halt at the destruction the cybertronian had caused. Optimus unfortunately was a bit too late turning around, Sam let out a yelp as the autobot leader was tackled off of the skying road to the ones on the ground below.

(Y/n) snapped off the seatbelt with a new rush of adrenaline and rushed to Sam's side of the vehicle to see the fight below. A car was just a sliver away from the fight and she could only pray that the civilians inside wouldn’t be harmed. Optimus was the first to throw a strong hook into the cons faceplate then taking them further down to another level of the roads.

To see the Prime handle his adversary with determination and sheer strength was breathtaking. His sword’s protruding from his servos where nothing like she imagined. Were they hot or cold? They were a fiery yellow gradient to orange, and to see the damage they caused to the decepticon was chilling. The leader landed one final blow stabbing upwards through the enemies neck cabling, sparks flew everywhere before a snap sounded and the cons head rolled along the ground.

“Wow…” a breath left the Afro hairs lips, “ And that was only one decepticon. What was it like when he invaded bases with only three comrades by his side.”

Sam shook his head, “I dunno if I want to imagine that. Did you see what he just did?”

“I am so glad we got in this car.” Mikeala whispered.

A sliver of a memory of her grandfather warped in her mind. The comfort of his arms to the gentle peck on her forehead, “ Even Optimus gets scared,”

“I wonder how scared he is right now.” (Y/n) thought carefully, “my hands are shaking with the whole world in our hands. Imagine thinking of his world and protecting ours as well. His home is lost and he’s protecting ours from the thing that can possibly give them another planet.”

Sam and Mikeala both looked at each other, their eyes speaking for themselves without words.

Exactly what did they get themselves into? And what will be the cost if either side wins?

Upon arriving at Mission City, (Y/n)’s whole mood shifted. Uncertainty took over as she scanned the roads crowned by fleeing civilians and cars left along the roads. It was a reminder of how much was at stake. To think just staring at one road filled with people makes you think about the whole world; about classrooms, children, families, friends, even enemies.

Cause at the end of the day if this doesn’t work. They’ll all be damned.

The aircraft’s above reassured her that they indeed had taken her advice. Simmons and the others had made it out long enough to send a message out. Even though she didn’t like him-doesn't mean she can’t respect his bravery and service.

Sam pulled his best friend out of the car along with Mikeala. The cube rested in the backseat making the girl nervous; to be honest she felt like it needed to be held at all times. She had a feeling that if she looked away long enough it would disappear and all their efforts would be for naught. Even with all the heavy duty surrounding them in the street she still felt too exposed.

“Green smoke is the mark. Provide air cover and vector Black Hawks for extraction.” Epps ordered.

A thunderous aircraft circled a building, flying recklessly to be there. (Y/n) broke off from Sam peering closely before it dawned on her. To think that there wasn’t going to be any hacking with the transmissions between other aircraft was foolish-and she even forgot about it for a moment- and she was the one who had warned them about it. Through her most recent books of studies there were only a few aircraft’s recorded decepticons. And only two really mattered.

The Terrorist. And his Second Command.

The tales she had heard about Starscream made her laugh and grow frustrated. To think that one of the most dangerous decepticons was a coward and the most brutal was very contradictory. One that really stuck with her was the battle he had with three scouts, apparently there was only one that was able to outsmart Starscream and escape. It had led the commander to grow more hostile to scouts and lower ranks of the autobot cause as a result.

He had learned his lesson that ranks don't matter on the battlefield. Only wit and sheer determination.

“Oh shit-”

“It’s Starscream!” Ironhide announced transforming causing the other autobots to follow. The weapon’s specialist immediately started to get to work on a barrier for protection, “Backup! Take Cover! Bumblebee!” The scout was right behind him picking up a blue truck for a shield. The moment would’ve been something to marvel at however the expending screams ruined it.

“No,no, no, no, no! Move!” Lennox ordered, he grabbed two other soldiers from their posts gesturing for others to follow suit. It was obvious the aircrafts were not going to be able to defend them against Starscream in time, and now that (Y/n) thought about it was probably for the best. The fire back from the decepticon would have led to many plane crashes leaving more casualties in the city with the tall buildings.

“Back up! Back up!”

“Retreat! Fall back!” But it was futile; the tanks were already in position and all they could do was get out of them. The men stumbled over themselves to get away from the danger before them. Civilians being dragged along the way if they were hiding in nearby alleys and stores.

(Y/n) grabbed both Mikaela and Sam ducking for cover. Her heart was racing, she made it halfway on the ground before she felt it, the hot sizzling explosion causing the ground to rumble and break before them. They flew a few feet from impact, blinding them for a few moments.

“Anybody hurt? Everyone in okay?” Lennox screamed. He helped Mikeala giving her a once over before turning to Sam, “Where’s (Y/n)?!”

The said girl was on her side by a gray vehicle turned upside down. She let out a small whimper before shifting on her back, accidentally hitting her head against metal. At first she thought it was debris from the explosion, possibly from the truck. Until her eyes focused from the fog, seeing the infamous black and yellow signature of a cybertronian ped.

Only the thing is-it wasn’t attached to its owner.

#transformers x reader #bumblebee x black reader #bumblebee x reader #bumblebee #transformers bayverse #transformers bumblebee #sam witwicky #mikeala banes #Youtube

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vizthedatum · 3 months ago

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I can be compassionate, kind, loving, helpful, and not always available if I can't afford to.

Yes, relationships of any kind need reciprocity. Still, if a relationship is draining me (it probably is not great for the other person), I need to figure it out with my resources and rethink my availability.

—

I know I have unreasonably demanded more than what people could give in the past. Or expected their love/commitment to be that missing piece that would “make things better.”

Of course, there were deeper issues within myself.

Also, I had to reevaluate my standards for friendships and relationships. There are things that I still will not budge on, and that's okay!! I do have relational needs, and I can move on from connections or change expectations if those needs don't get met or worked on.

—

I am currently struggling with a friend who needs a lot of help right now.

If I had more financial and physical support for myself (I live alone, work full-time, am always managing my chronic health, etc.), then I'd have more to give to this friend.

I have already invested a lot of time, money, advice, and energy into this friend.

It seems like they're alienating everyone too. And they can't make it to all the healthcare appointments that would help them.

They spiral into helplessness, which prevents them from doing the necessary things to function.

They're homeless and have been for a while. Sometimes it feels like we are making progress, and then they just… don't do what they need to do to help themselves.

And I refuse to be the ONLY person who can actually help them. Like no. I have tried to set them up with care coordination but… I cannot just fix everything for them.

—

I'm on my period, finally getting a stride on with my work tasks, and feeling like I'm getting somewhere with all my projects. My place is still a mess, but I have a plan for tackling it all. I tidied more last night, and it's really just laundry that I need to get to. (and some other than extra things to declutter but they're not a priority rn)

My life hangs on so many balances, it seems.

And I know I have more than this friend: I have a lot of systems in place, I have shelter, I have access to food, I have access to a lot.

But if I let go of my self-care and all the things I'm juggling… to help my friend, then it will take me so long to recover.

I might flare. I might get behind in everything. I might simply crash even more.

—

I have worked so hard on my mental and physical health to get to a place of stability even with my debt issues. It is not that hard to fall into a place of lack and… homelessness with my health and trauma issues (despite my education or support system - again all things that I cultivated and must continue to sustain).

Sometimes, it's like I work to earn the right to live.

—

I am already struggling to eat because of my PMDD/period.

—

And I know that helping them right now would completely drain me (and boundary-test me) because this has happened before.

It would be different if this friend could contribute anything back… but even their presence is emotionally/energetically draining because I feel like a therapist, care manager, and parent.

—

Thus, I have these challenging boundaries right now…. while I read (and respond, ofc!) the messages of their struggles.

And it just sucks.

It feels horrible and miserable.

#healing #neurodivergence #trauma #self love #love #queer #difficult situations #seeing suffering #suffering

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ilovethewaleses · 1 year ago

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About Catherine's work with the Early Years... I've seen a lot of people asking for practical solutions and that's where I know they didn't get a full grasp of this which I understand as it's much easier if everything is spoon-fed.

The thing is, practical solutions which often times are just short-term solutions have been out there for so many years but unfortunately this generational problem that seems to be no ending requires more than that, it requires mindset shift. This also explains why everything they've said seems to be repetitive for some who have already heard about it and failed to take some time and reflect.

Consequently, projects like this is not for a faint of heart, people who are genuinely devoting so much of their time to focus on the children who will become adults in the future are wired differently.

As Catherine said, it is not for a quick win, it is for a big win.

I love this message ❤️

Exactly. The solutions are out there but they're not being implemented or they're being implemented poorly or they're not accessible or many other reasons. For example, I think everyone can agree and knows that safe, low-cost, high-quality early childhood care is necessary and important for so many reasons. However, the costs for early childhood care in the UK have risen exponentially and availability has fallen drastically. Or what about the outcome of poor maternal/parental mental health due to a lack of resources for struggling parents on the well-being of their children? We know (now - this hasn't been well-known or cared about by many for so long) that it causes negative outcomes. Or the effects of parental addiction on the well-being of their children?

When you have someone as influential as the Princess of Wales getting out there and giving this attention - bringing together experts and politicians (in a way that she can) with science-backed research saying - this is important, we need to invest in this... well that could bring the necessary attention (and $$ and resources) to helping solve the problem. And your last sentence sums it up perfectly. It's not an overnight throw money at something project. It's a life-long, generation long commitment to a constant drumbeat of research, education, and implementation.

#ask #answered

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aditikhandelwal · 1 month ago

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Achieving in financial instablity

So there have been a lot of opinions and discussions about the personal development and self improvement thing so we need to make sure for that we should have a financial stability, we should be so much hard working and so much passionate about your work that money could never be a issue

if you work hard automatically success comes with it and as you must be thinking that how are we going to do that so there are some measures which you can follow to achieve your goals and can generate some good income with it as ‘FINANCE’ is very important

so as you need to plan , set a budget, don't spend unnecessarily, refrain from debt, have an emergency fund, manage debt effectively, and invest in retirement as early and as often as possible. It is also important to invest in yourself.

there are some 5 measures which you can follow

1) Invest in yourself. Having further education, more knowledge, and required skills for work can support your career advancement.

2) Make money from what you like :- just know what you like the most you should know about yourself, know what are your interests are on , as if you have an interest in something then only you can make money out of it

3) Set saving and expense budgets:- you should started saving more and your expenses should be very limited as in terms of it should be only on the basic needs SAVE FOR THE BEST

4) Set emergency fund:- You never know when your interest get fluctuate , you never know when is your last day at the job , you should always keep a back up option with yourself, as at that time the emergency fund helps you alot and makes your struggle less difficult

5) Plan for retirement:- As after working so hard day and night you should be that much capable of that you do not be dependent on someone financially … Work so much , make some Fixed deposit in the bank or invest in some shares or in health insurance.

So this was for all

for today

seee you in the next blog

Toodles

#lifestyle #lifestyle blog #blog post #finace #plans #data plans

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metaphoricallylotus · 3 months ago

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airing my grievances

| aug 2nd, 2024

in trying to stay true to myself, i find myself (for a second day in a row!!) writing out my feelings onto this blog. i am tired of running and want to stick to obligations that i have made, for once in my life. what this looks like is precisely this: writing despite not feeling like it, which i am absolutely not on this fine friday evening. i am exhausted and so emotionally drained that 1. have a harder time expressing them due to fatigue and 2. kind of emotionally numb since i use numbness to protect myself when i feel overwhelmed. however, this technique is not healthy whatsoever. so what has happened today and what have i been stressed about? well i've had to go into the city (without giving out details, i live in a suburb and had to drive further inwards towards the city core to buy some furniture for my new apt as university season is coming closer and closer) to run some errands and the spending aspect of furnishing a place for university is stressing-me-the-fuck-out! more on that later. i've also felt many feelings of nostalgia today, which will also be discussed.

so, why does pursuing an education have to be so stressful? money money money MONEY! the monetary aspect of life, especially in regards to renting out a place + sorting out things related to this have been stressing me out to the point where i have had really bad diarrhea and wake up at 7am in the morning and cannot sleep any longer due to my anxiety, despite still feeling rather physically tired. i am not in a terrible financial place, by any means of course. i am rather privileged in terms of capital. however, i have a rational/irrational (i have not been able to figure out if it is rational or not as i am still confused on how i truly understand the value of money) fear of going broke while pursuing my studies. i am worried that i will become homeless (not that i carry any stigma towards homeless individuals. the system is simply broken and we as a society really do not invest in these individuals as a whole. and don't even get me started on the factors that contribute to this). a question for me regarding this would be: so if you are so worried about being broke, why don't you just live at home with your parents while pursuing your education? well, i just don't think i could do it. commuting has various negative impacts on health and as someone who suffers from anxiety and really bad depression, i simply do not have any more energy to deal with the consequences associated with this (increased likelihood of development certain physical health conditions and the overall negative impact commuting would have on my energy levels + mood). i need a lot of time to recuperate and practice self care. this really cannot be done on any sort of public transportation, especially during a trip that would easily take 2+ hours. yes, this sounds like a "privileged" person problem but i do believe that if i were to commute, it would eventually result in me dropping out of university. on top of that, i really cannot live with my parents anymore. i need to break free as them as they are having a (negative) profound impact on me. i fear that if i live with them any longer, i will never be able to truly recover from the damage taken. the damage? two emotionally unavailable adults that judge me on everything that i do and i simply cannot take it anymore. in being emotionally unavailable, they cannot express their feelings properly. i am expected to comfort them, despite them never reciprocating this and even if they did, a daughter should not have to play this role. uncontrollable emotional outbursts ranging from expressions of annoyance to anything to white hot anger. they are codependent on me, from tech issues to directions to providing them with emotional support. i am tired of taking care of everyone but no one taking care of me. the worst thing is that they are completely unaware of the fact that 1. they are acting this extreme and 2. that it is deeply affecting me. and yes, i have tried to have conversations re: this but i don't get through to them. either this case of denial is intentional or unintentional. either way, it's rather frustrating. i also do not want to be in a relationship (platonic or not) where my major role of mine is to try to fix the other person! this is a useless and exhausting effort! save your energy by saving yourself! some may think that this comes off as selfish as "if you truly cared, you would try to change them no matter how many tries it takes." maybe so, but most of the time, trying to change someone simply does not work, especially if they do not want to or simply have an inability to change. at this point, you can only focus on yourself and do what is best for you. for me, this means putting a lot more distance between me and my parents and in the process, learning + undoing unhealthy behaviours and creating healthy ones instead. i believe at this point that this can only be done if i am on my own. through living long enough on this earth, i find that i am easily swayed by others emotions. i unconsciously mimic the mood of the room, even if it does not align with my actual morals on how should i react

continued in comments^ -------------->

| aug 1st

| aug 7th

#blog #diary #anon

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